A bit index explicit replication (BIER) technology is a novel packet transmission technology. In the BIER technology, a packet may be transmitted using multiple bit-forwarding routers (BFR) disposed in a BIER network.
Both a BFIR and a BFER are BFRs in the BIER network. The BFIR may send a packet to the BFER in the BIER network. The BFIR may obtain a bit string according to a bit corresponding to the BFER, and the bit, in the bit string, corresponding to the BFER is set. The BFIR may add the bit string to the packet to obtain a BIER packet. In this way, a BFR that receives the BIER packet may forward the BIER packet to the BFER according to the bit that is set in the bit string.
A method for forwarding a multicast packet is not provided in the existing BIER technology.